Dance, Education, Choreography, and Cooking
I want to make something quick, easy, and healthy when I come from work. Most teachers can tell you that it is difficult to find time to eat during the school day. Yes, as a teacher, I only get 15 minutes for recess and 30 minutes for lunch. Sometimes, teachers give up their recess and lunch to help students.Â
Students, teachers, and the community deserve better. It is time to work smarter and draw from our teacher practitioners' passions. For example, if you have a degree in media arts, with video as a major, maybe we must have you teach it. Place teachers into teaching slots who have a passion for the subjects they teach. Can you imagine the creativity?
Conversations for stories of practice on movement, mindfulness, the creative process, and social justice happen around creating meals. As I slice, chop, and prepare a meal, thoughts for the next podcast and blog sometimes come while spicing and marinating dishes. As an educator and choreographer, the creative process for me begins to stir in the kitchen. Â Welcome to the podcast "What Stirs" I am your host, Dr. Desiree Cremer, the Cooking Choreographer.
During the pandemic when most schools were in distance learning, I talked with Dr. Erin Thompson for my podcast, What Stirs, Thompson shared her thoughts and principles on the pandemic and education.Â
I had a fascinating conversation with Dr. Theresa (Terry) Lock on my podcast, What Stirs. Dr. Lock discusses the importance of play in early childhood and elementary school education. She states that children learn through play, and it is a component of how children learn.
Masala chicken is a quick and easy meal that gives just that tangy kick in the week. After teaching all day, I want something thing that reminds me of home in Cape Town. So I go to my version of masala chicken. As I prepared this dish in my social justice kitchen, I thought about what makes an educational leader? What are the challenges? A spicy meal for a spicy topic, my next blog.
The pandemic teaches us in education that we cannot go back to business as usual. It reveals the inequities for students and teachers and brings to the surface the outdated educational policies that need revisiting or plain removal.
Dijon mustard with chicken and portobello mushrooms is one of my comfort foods after a long choreographic teaching day. It is quick and healthy. As I prepared this meal in my social justice kitchen, I thought of how the school system should allow students to graduate once they earned their 24 credits. Indeed a topic for my next blog.
I miss the meditation and body conditioning that comes in the beginning or sometimes at the end of class. I say to my students, take slow breaths in and out, relax and sink into the floor, connect your mind and body as the class begins the floor warm-up that progresses to series of movement exercises that will increase their range of motion. I miss their exhausted groans and sighs after a series of abdominal exercises, especially the laughter of accomplishment.
Cooking Choreographer 